Hanoi explains mass fish deaths in iconic lake

The Hanoitimes - Tons of fish went belly up along the edge of the West Lake, the city`s largest lake in the last two days.

Prolonged hot weather may be the main causes behind a series of mass fish deaths in Hanoi's lakes this week, according to the city’s Construction Department.

The cleaning of dead fish in West Lake.

Specifically, according to Director of Hanoi Construction Department Le Van Duc, sewage hardly flows into the lake recently with the support of Thuy Khue ditch nearby. Hence the reason behind the mass fish deaths in the West Lake can be the change in climate and hot weather.
25 tons of dead fish have been found until now, equal to merely one-tenth compared to the amount of fish washing up in 2016, Duc noted.
Vo Tien Hung, director of Hanoi Water Drainage Company, said about 500 workers of the firm have involved in solving the mess on July 8-9.
In the evening of July 8, a number of fish were found belly up along edge of the West Lake in northern Hanoi. More than 20 packages of death fish have been destroy since this morning.
Earlier in October 2016, 200 tons of dead fish washed up in West Lake followed by thousands of dead fish in Linh Dam Lake. The incident was then attributed to pollution and changes in the weather, said the city authority.
Hanoi has over 100 ponds and lakes scattered across the city, but many of them are polluted by sewage and rubbish.
The city hopes to resolve the problem with a US$726 million sewage treatment plant. Construction began in October 2016 and is scheduled to complete in three years.